Institute of Certified
Bookkeepers
Software Review
2014
Bright Pay – the future’s bright, the future’s
BrightPay?
Company Overview
BrightPay, created by Thesaurus Software, is a company with over twenty years of
experience in the payroll market. Based in Dublin, they initially operated in the Irish market
but successfully expanded into the UK over twelve years ago. Their website
www.brightpay.co.uk announces, “Finally, someone has made great payroll software”; quite
a statement to live up to!
BrightPay utilises the full social media experience to gain your attention. Website, Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn all feature and also You Tube videos, a first for me. All the material is
bright and glossy but also informative and inviting. The website is, as you would expect, well
designed and easy to read, although there was a lot to scroll down through on the home
page. Alongside the option to download the product is the view pricing button providing a
clear transparency on how much BrightPay will cost you. It is also easy to view the tutorials
and access support. All these elements are fundamental to the service that BrightPay claim
they offer their customers and will be covered later in this review. The blog has current
articles, and, at the time of writing this review the last blog post was just a day old and very
informative. The last status update on Facebook was a mere 22 hours ago and I was pleased
to see that posts to the page had been answered promptly.
The product is mainly aimed at start up and small to medium businesses and
accountants/payroll bureaus. In both cases the need to streamline and simplify the payroll
function is imperative. The claims made in the social media world were quite impressive so,
as a member of the ICB that operates a payroll bureau, I was keen to find out how good this
product actually is.
Scope of Review
On speaking with BrightPay and downloading their product I was offered a demo company
to play with. This was really useful in getting to know how the features of the software
worked. I also set up a new company to understand how easy it was to do this. I was able to
perform standard payroll functions on both the companies but didn’t make any actual RTI
submissions. BrightPay are fully RTI compliant so we can assume that the uploads work
perfectly.
This review is about the how the software performs and not about how payroll works. I
won’t be explaining how to run a payroll but instead focus on the functionality that the
BrightPay software offers.
I have used a number of payroll products over the years so have a great deal of
understanding on how both payroll works and the products that other software providers
offer. I will not directly compare the BrightPay product to other software on the market but
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I believe that my experience gives me a good position to critique its strengths and
weaknesses.
The Product
In simple terms, and using BrightPay’s words, “it just works”!
The download and installation was seamless and a click on the new icon on my desktop
opened the software ready for a new employer to be added. I duly did what I was told by the
prompts on the screen, added a new company and the employees without any hassle or
difficulty. Employees could easily be organised into departments and an unlimited amount
of departments can be set up. Default settings for employees could also be set up though
these of course can be changed later for individual employees if required.
Once this was all done I arrived at the main screen. This was well presented, easy to view
with six tabs across the top of the screen; payroll, analysis, employees, employer, HMRC
payments and RTI.
Rather than going through the functions in each individual tab, which would probably make
for a 50 page report, I will highlight a couple of the features that each offer. I will also
include screenshots of the main screens to illustrate the ease of the user interface with this
software.
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
Payroll
Employees are listed in a summary screen depending on their pay cycle which is shown on the
blue table towards the top of the screen. By clicking on the employee button you bring up the
details screen as above, where it is easy to amend payment details for the month in question.
Their default pay is shown but can be overwritten and other pay elements can be added easily
without having to move to a different screen.
The calendar click through under the statutory pay option is an incredibly useful and powerful
tool. Here you can drag and click to select dates where an employee was on sick leave, annual
leave, parenting leave etc. The package will then automatically calculate any statutory pay
due.
Further additions and deductions, for example, dividends and attachment orders can be
added from this screen to complete the payroll information for the individual. The process is
clear and easy to use and with auto-enrolment upon us it is good to see a message at the top
of the screen regarding the individual’s pension position.
The production of payslips is easy and versatile. Payslips can be printed, emailed and
exported. Printing options can be customised easily to suit your needs and a company logo
can be included.
In conclusion, the ability to build the payroll run and produce payslips is comprehensive but
also simple to use. The screens are well designed and easy to view and I particularly liked the
fact that most of the work could be done from an individual employee’s main screen without
having to switch to different screens to set up defaults or add extra data fields.
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
Analysis
Once payroll has been run it can be fully reviewed and reported upon in the Analysis tab.
Here are a number of standard reports that you would expect to see and use. There is also
the ability to create new reports, edit reports and create favourites. Reports can be printed
and exported into a number of different file formats. It was also good to see a pensions
report as standard which will be essential as auto enrolment requirements begin to impact
more businesses. I appreciated a separate reporting function and the ability to produce
bespoke reports easily. Having the functionality to easily review and analyse payroll data as
an integral part of the product is a great strength.

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Employee
From the employee screen it is easy to add new employees and amend existing ones.
Everything is there that you would expect and the inclusion of an auto enrolment tab is
important and helpful. Employee details were easy to enter and review and covered all the
necessary information for RTI submissions. The information that needs to be entered for an
employee is reasonably standard whatever package you are using but the BrightPay user
interface is superb and makes data capture painless.

Employer
This is the last screen we will look at in detail. As you will have noticed each of the screens are
very similar in their look and operation. Everything can be done from the one page which is
clear, clean, crisp and tidy. Again, the ability to manage pensions is easy and will become
more important in the payroll world going forward. I also particularly liked the way that
departments were easily manageable.
There are dedicated RTI Submissions and Auto Enrolment tabs to manage these areas.
BrightPay also supports a wide range of pension scheme types and default contributions can
be set up for all your employees in the Employer tab.
The language used is easy to understand and minimises the use of payroll jargon. As a payroll
professional the product gives me everything I need to ensure that a company’s payroll is run
compliantly. I can also see that the small business owner would be able to manage a simple
payroll themselves as the software is user friendly and easy to operate.
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
Other tabs – RTI and Auto Enrolment
These are the last of the tabs available.
The HMRC tab is already populated with the liabilities due but you can enter items such as CIS
suffered and the total amount paid to HMRC for any given liability period. Here you can
produce your P32 for the end of the year which will be fully complete if the HMRC information
has been entered during the months.
Finally, the RTI tab manages these submissions. The RTI full payment submission can be made
when payslips are finalised or they can be managed and submitted when required from the
dedicated RTI screen.

Other information
Importing capabilities
If migrating from another payroll system employee details can be easily imported into
BrightPay. Payment and deduction information can also be imported in. This is done using the
.csv format. I did not test this but the ability to import and export files is a very useful tool in
any product.
Free unlimited support
Support is available both by phone and by email. I did call BrightPay with a question regarding
departmental reports in the Analysis tab. The call was answered promptly, just a few minutes
on hold, and my question was resolved quickly and in a very friendly and polite manner. I like
to be able to speak to someone when I have a query or problem and free phone support is
definitely a plus point for me. The four tutorial videos were also helpful and informative
although slightly out of date as the material related to the payroll year 13-14.
Pricing Structure
The “Try/Buy” option on the website takes you to a page which clearly explains the three
pricing categories. You can also install and use BrightPay licence-free for a period of sixty days
at no cost – one of the better trial offers I’ve seen. And then it just gets better as the first
license option is . . . .
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
Free – no cost
Yes, it’s free! For a single company with a maximum of three employees you can obtain a
BrightPay license for . . .free! It includes all the features of the product, none of this buy
in at a lower price point but only get half the functionality. And here is the real deal
clincher, the free phone and email support as well. This is not restricted to the more
expensive price plans. When you take up the free licence you get the full BrightPay
experience for up to three employees. The restriction is in the number of employees and
a free entry point is sound business judgement as thriving companies will not stay at just
three employees.

Standard - £89 per year
Single user, unlimited employees. Aimed at the small to medium business, this price plan
enables the business owner to continue to run their own payroll at a reasonable price.
Free phone and email support is, of course, included.

Bureau - £199 per year
Unlimited employers, unlimited employees. And did I mention . . . free phone and email
support. This price point is comparable with some existing payroll products on the
market and is a good offer for those bookkeepers who run a payroll bureau.
The simplicity in the three tiered pricing structure is refreshing and there really are no hidden
costs. Realistically, the free license is a simple loss leader which will undoubtedly generate
business for BrightPay but also offers a great benefit the new business owner.
Key Benefits & Strengths

HMRC approved for RTI submissions.

Auto enrolment built in and easy to access.

Import/Export capability.

User interface – screens are clean and crisp and easy to navigate around.

Competitive pricing structure and free entry point.

Free Phone and email support as part of every price plan.

Client focussed– quick response and friendly approach.

Comprehensive payroll software that is easy to use and understand.
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Considerations

Knowing about payroll. This package is very intuitive and user friendly. Aimed at
small to medium sized businesses, and free for up to three employees, the owner is
empowered to manage the company payroll. My experience has shown this can
sometimes end badly as actually understanding how PAYE scheme operates is
essential in running a company’s payroll irrespective of what package you use.

MAC version essential. The lack of a MAC version is a weakness but this is being
developed and could be available from next year.

Transfer to BrightPay. For payroll professionals operating a number of payrolls the
investment in time to transfer to BrightPay from an existing system may seem a
barrier to change. However, I am sure that BrightPay would offer great assistance
and support to anyone looking to move to their software.
Summary of Review
The future’s Bright – the future’s BrightPay? Certainly they give themselves a lot to live up to
with the social media claims. On the face of it BrightPay is glossy, slick and well presented
but does the product live up to the image?
Any payroll software has to specifically adhere to HMRC compliance rules so what
differentiates any product is the experience of using it. And it is here that BrightPay have
ultimately hit the target bull’s-eye. The product has a superb user interface that is easy to
handle; with clear and uncluttered screens, good use of everyday language and a simple
payroll process the user, whether a qualified professional or business owner, can quickly and
effectively manage payroll. But more than that BrightPay do give an excellent customer
experience, with fairly priced plans, no hidden costs or extras. The support is free by phone
and email whatever price plan you take up and was indeed as friendly and professional as
claimed.
I have been very impressed with this product and can see that BrightPay’s presence in the
UK market has every potential to grow. Not wanting to get carried away in my own
enthusiasm for this product I did check other reviews online, all were extremely positive and
complimentary and can be summed up in this one line, “BrightPay sets the new standard in
Payroll Software.”
So, the future does look very bright for BrightPay and their clients. Great software, well
priced and a customer centred focus that provides an all round attractive product; BrightPay
pride themselves on remaining friendly and approachable. As they continue to grow I
certainly hope that they remain true to the ethos that has brought them this far while still
striving to set new standards across the board in payroll software.
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Disclaimer
The Institute of Certified Bookkeepers having reviewed the Brightpay software package,
September 2014, cannot be held responsible in anyway for the actions of the company
Thesaurus Software or their software, Brightpay. This review is merely an unbiased
overview of the software package.
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